Thursday, October 06, 2011

Breaking news: 10,000 to 50,000 on Wall St

Today saw 10,000 to 50,000 on Occupy Wall Street as the unions began to join in and students staged simultaneous walk-outs of New York City schools. The large discrepency in estimates is due to the fact that news sources crowd estimations vary.

It seems as if the movement may be becoming broader than before. As Tina Sulsman notes:

There were signs protesting racism, Obama, Republicans, Democrats, hunger, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were as many signs supporting workers' rights, hunger-striking prisoners, higher taxes for millionaires and an overhaul of the country's financial system.

There is still a general absence of news, perhaps caused by the fact the protests got big right when Steve Job's death was released (this was a coincidence). The photos of people being arrested look less and less like scruffy hippies, and more like the sentiment is extending into other segments of the population.

The police were out in force and mounted on horses, beating people with batons, as shown in the video above. Reports of about 200 people being cordoned with orange netting, an unknown number pepper-sprayed and about 20 arrested are coming in. Microphones are still not allowed, so the protests are coordinated through human microphones where the crowd repeats phrases. This must make Michael Moore's speech in Zuccotti Park a lengthy process.

The media team has been arrested but is streaming live from the paddy wagon here.